So do you also have all of the billing companies chasing you, have 1 can of beans left for the entire month, have a kid that's crying because you never go to his/her school plays....

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She's touring the facility/and picking up slack.--"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18--I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view --Life went on no matter who was wrong or right

I've lived on $6 an hour and supported 3 children. Lessons? It's easier to lose what you really don't need in life and slowly build back than it is to try to hold on to those things that really don't matter. My car was re-possessed, I took the bus and met some really wonderful humble people. We very carefully ate on $25 a month - and had absolutely no frills. I agree with sainthieu - it was absolutely hands down the best experience I've ever been through. I recently told a friend of mine who is struggling that it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Hands down. It was hard and emotionally painful and draining - but I learned to thrive relying on Him. It's amazing the provision that comes when you trust.

I agree with this completely. We were in a desperate situation when my wife and I first got married. Very very poor. We learned how to save money in incredible ways. Today since we still applied these frugal practices and with God's blessing, we are 100% out of debt on EVERYTHING. That $9 an hour game was sort of weird because I was like "okay...." we could easily live on that today. Best experience of my life (and one of the hardest) is being poor.

The biggest key to living frugally is to be debt free. It is also less expensive (for the most part) to make things yourself. I can make all the bread we eat in a week for all 6 of us at a cost of about fifty cents. Flour, water, salt and yeast are very inexpensive compared to bread at the bread outlet at $2 a loaf. If I shopped there for bread we would be spending closer to $10 a week on bread.

If we were on food stamps we would be given three times the amount of money we currently spend on food.

READ THIS POST anybody struggling to make ends meet. Once you make your own bread, you will have a lifetime of savings. We did this when we were very poor and today we make EVERYTHING that involves baking. Bread, buns, donuts, cookies, cake, muffins, rolls, pies etc. You can eat MEGA CHEAP if you simply just learn too cook. Buy any meats that are on sale (near sell date) and freeze them if you don't need them. Learn to save money on electricity, learn to save money on gas by hypermiling.

Also if you have an ALDI near your home, you are blessed because that store is VERY cheap.

Guess who said this:"By reducing the worker’s need to the barest and most miserable level of physical subsistence, and by reducing his activity to the most abstract mechanical movement; thus he says: Man has no other need either of activity or of enjoyment. For he declares that this life, too, is human life and existence.

By counting the most meagre form of life (existence) as the standard, indeed, as the general standard – general because it is applicable to the mass of men. He turns the worker into an insensible being lacking all needs, just as he changes his activity into a pure abstraction from all activity. To him, therefore, every luxury of the worker seems to be reprehensible, and everything that goes beyond the most abstract need – be it in the realm of passive enjoyment, or a manifestation of activity – seems to him a luxury..."

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"I saw a miracle where 2 people entered church one by baptism and one by chrismation. On pictures the one received by full baptism was shinning in light the one by chrismation no."

Was able to play this game just now, wasn't able to earlier, wouldnt let me. I choose the ware house job. I had $283 left over for the month. The choices on the game were nowhere near my reality. I had 283 left over for the month. My actual rent is 250 a month, utilities around 40 (average over 12 months,my part, just recently moved in with my nephew, he has a house, and likes to have roomies, but all they wanted to do was party-he got tired of that), my actual cell bill is 50.21 every month for unlimited talk and text-I use cricket. My car insurance 2 months ago averaged 27.25 for 12 months (paid for the next year 9/2012 ,makes it so much cheaper for me, I hold that amount out every check I get). I get a gallon of milk at Aldi in Overland Park, it's 1.99 a gallon - cereal for $4? . Um, my oatmeal is way cheaper that that.- 100 percent whole wheat bread 99 cents, and no name brands-always have shopped that way. A little over half way through the game, I started choosing not to do stuff cause it didn't apply to my own experience or actual costs for me. Between my grandmother telling me to only live off half of what I bring home, my Dad saying always put a car payment into a savings bank on the other side of town so it's hard to get it for stupid stuff, then when you really need a car,. won't have to make payments with interest, Shopping aldi, then other stores, thrift stores, or clearance sales (kohl's love their clearance stuff) It really isn't that hard for me. After my divorce, yes, I had to work up to 3 jobs for a while, and I still work 2 jobs quite a bit, but such is life. (Now if quiting smoking were so easy! LOL Arrgghh!)

I got this from a friend of mine, love the online magizine now. Mother Earth publish this a while ago. They state for approx 50 cents a day, and only takes 5 minutes to prep. For me it averages maybe 62 cents per loaf when I make it, and I love it.

You need to change your avatar because now I'm confused about who is posting. Thanks.

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She's touring the facility/and picking up slack.--"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18--I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view --Life went on no matter who was wrong or right

I LOVE peanut butter, for breakfast, on a slice of heavy crusty toasted bread with tad of honey and a sprinkle of cinamen, one of my breakfast staples about half of the time, (or late night snacks), oatmeal for breakfast ,about the other half, with brown sugar, and quite heavy on the cinamon, no milk, cream or butter-I know I'm werid, but love it! And I love rice, left over the next morning with cinomen, sugar and milk- or a late night snacke after working and getting home at 2 am! But I agree with the Ramen noodles, yuck! Also my grandson and I love peanut butter on graham crackers as a snack with milk while talking about our day, or week, or what ever. I hope he never grows out of that!

Umm, in Chandler, AZ, my mom raised myself and three sisters - with a dog - for about $37,000 a year (this being in the mid-late 2000's). We always had a bit more than enough, and (for the most part) lived in a house. You happen to live in a very expensive place.

Umm, in Chandler, AZ, my mom raised myself and three sisters - with a dog - for about $37,000 a year (this being in the mid-late 2000's). We always had a bit more than enough, and (for the most part) lived in a house. You happen to live in a very expensive place.

AZ is super cheap though.

Yeah I live pretty expensively to match my lifestyle.

If you don't make $20 an hour, forget moving on your own, and 20 bucks is bare mininum I'll say

That's why I want to get out of this city and move to somewhere cheaper. Then I can live super cheaply in a nice house and just make ridiciulous payments on a Porsche.

« Last Edit: October 06, 2011, 02:07:29 AM by Achronos »

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“There is your brother, naked, crying, and you stand there confused over the choice of an attractive floor covering.”

I could probably live on $9 an hour if I didn't have those **** college loans to pay off.

For serious. I am so upset that I could basically be paying rent for an entire apartment. HATE IT. And while I'm making more than $9 an hour, almost 25% of my income is just for college loans. #$@#!

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She's touring the facility/and picking up slack.--"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18--I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view --Life went on no matter who was wrong or right

You are a lawyer, so at least, comfortably middle class. Probably busy defending the interests of those with money. No go tell that to homeless and others that barely make enough to not die of starvation. Can you say the same inanity with a straight face ?That's what makes me think that Christian spirituality is a sick cruel joke more often than not.

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"I saw a miracle where 2 people entered church one by baptism and one by chrismation. On pictures the one received by full baptism was shinning in light the one by chrismation no."

Played it and when it got to the tooth thing, $400 root canal. Colleges that have a dentistry program do dental work for much less... Then it got to $30 to do laundry. If it costs that much to do laundry you simply have too many clothes. I think I would literally have to times the number of clothes I have by 20 to get anywhere near that.

I stopped at the "lets hope you dont get sick" crap. If I want lefty BS I'll turn on MSNBC.

I also chuckled as the average restaurant server made $8/hour. Work 1 weekend evening shift at Applebee's and then tell me that. I made mad cash.

PP

You probably suffer from the Stockholm syndrome. They can just never get enough abuse. You're on the right path, son. Some seasoned monk-a-be will further increase the amount of abuse in your life, taking it to new, hesychast levels.

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"I saw a miracle where 2 people entered church one by baptism and one by chrismation. On pictures the one received by full baptism was shinning in light the one by chrismation no."

Also if you have an ALDI near your home, you are blessed because that store is VERY cheap.

Aldi is the new walmart. I heard some elderly people on the bus say so. And if there's anyone who knows about penny pinching, it's elderly people.

LOL, Aldi has been around longer that walmart, at least in my area. Now oldest will 32 in month, and I shopped aldi when he was a toddler, way before there was Walmart, or even heard of one.

Hey don't get on Americans for not knowing about Kraut-Mart! //:=)

I was surprised to see one pop up in Ohio. They are starting to thrive. Never been in one here.

Eh, Aldi's is just okay. The food is really cheap and not too much choice.

I could probably do better shopping in the aisles at the back of your grocery store, but they have some good items. In Jersey it is solely for the ghetto for some reason.

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She's touring the facility/and picking up slack.--"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18--I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view --Life went on no matter who was wrong or right

I made it with $825 to spare, enough left over even for the "rent's due tomorrow". Of course, that was only by mooching off friends, but luckily I'm good at math so I could help my kid.

In real life, I make far less than $9 per hour, but I mooch off of family, and don't have a kid to worry about.

One thing I would definitely do differently is not try to hang on to a house I couldn't afford if I were unemployed. I would put it on the market as soon as I lost my job, and if it's worth less than the mortgage I would try to talk the lender into a short sale.

I also wouldn't wait until my savings were gone to get the $9 per hour job.

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He spoke it as kindly and heartily as could be; as if a man dashed a gallon of cold water in your broth and never doubted you'd like it all the better.

You are a lawyer, so at least, comfortably middle class. Probably busy defending the interests of those with money. No go tell that to homeless and others that barely make enough to not die of starvation. Can you say the same inanity with a straight face ?That's what makes me think that Christian spirituality is a sick cruel joke more often than not.

We've been through this before ... I am a member of the middle and intellectual classes now, but it has not always been so.

I know what it's like to have near nothing and also what it's like to have more than that. Obviously I do not want to return to where I've been, but I am just irked by this notion that I only have what I have because I've exploited the less-fortunate and that I'm only where I am because I was so fortunate to be born this way, evil privileged white heterosexual male that I am. Reality is less black and white than the rhetoric of class conflict suggests -- certainly in places like Australia where we have socialised medicine and incredibly generous social welfare.

Of course, it is not good enough for us haves to simply wave away the suffering of the have-nots with a glib "oh well, man doesn't live my bread alone", but I can honestly say that I am no more happy and fulfilled today than I was before I was comfortably middle class and defending the interests of those with money (actually, I am a public lawyer, so I neither make lots of money nor work for those with lots of money). I truly believe that material comfort is no remedy for human misery. It does help, though.

I just bought my family tickets to go on an overseas holiday at the end of the year. It will be the first time they have been out of Sydney since they arrived here on boats back in the fifties. I am certainly grateful to God that I am now in a position to do this. Truthfully, I would trade all my degrees and my bourgeois inner city lifestyle to undo the crippling heartache I have been suffering these last few years for reasons I sha'n't bore you with.

Man really doesn't live by bread alone, and I would be glad to say that to the face of someone on US$9.00/hour, I promise you, though perhaps not with the sense of snide derision you imagine.

Sing it, Akimori! My parents came to the US in the 80s, my father uneducated and both of them dirt poor. They are now quite comfortable and my mother is very successful in her field.

My family was considered poor for the first few years of my life, before their careers took off. I refuse to think less of their achievements or their understanding of living in poverty (my mother much more so) because they were able to increase their wealth.

Sometimes I wonder if Augustin purposely turns down job promotions or offers, just so he can maintain his street cred and scorn the bourgeoisie from his small apartment.

« Last Edit: October 07, 2011, 12:54:45 AM by IsmiLiora »

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She's touring the facility/and picking up slack.--"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18--I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view --Life went on no matter who was wrong or right

Sing it, Akimori! My parents came to the US in the 80s, my father uneducated and both of them dirt poor. They are now quite comfortable and my mother is very successful in her field.

My family was considered poor for the first few years of my life, before their careers took off. I refuse to think less of their achievements or their understanding of living in poverty (my mother much more so) because they were able to increase their wealth.

Sometimes I wonder if Augustin purposely turns down job promotions or offers, just so he can maintain his street cred and scorn the bourgeoisie from his small apartment.

Sing it, Akimori! My parents came to the US in the 80s, my father uneducated and both of them dirt poor. They are now quite comfortable and my mother is very successful in her field.

My family was considered poor for the first few years of my life, before their careers took off. I refuse to think less of their achievements or their understanding of living in poverty (my mother much more so) because they were able to increase their wealth.

Sometimes I wonder if Augustin purposely turns down job promotions or offers, just so he can maintain his street cred and scorn the bourgeoisie from his small apartment.

We Asians understand the value of hard work.

And others dont?

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“There is your brother, naked, crying, and you stand there confused over the choice of an attractive floor covering.”

Sing it, Akimori! My parents came to the US in the 80s, my father uneducated and both of them dirt poor. They are now quite comfortable and my mother is very successful in her field.

My family was considered poor for the first few years of my life, before their careers took off. I refuse to think less of their achievements or their understanding of living in poverty (my mother much more so) because they were able to increase their wealth.

Sometimes I wonder if Augustin purposely turns down job promotions or offers, just so he can maintain his street cred and scorn the bourgeoisie from his small apartment.

We Asians understand the value of hard work.

And others dont?

I was not being serious. I wouldn't have said anything if I thought my self-deprecation wasn't obvious -- apologies!

Sing it, Akimori! My parents came to the US in the 80s, my father uneducated and both of them dirt poor. They are now quite comfortable and my mother is very successful in her field.

My family was considered poor for the first few years of my life, before their careers took off. I refuse to think less of their achievements or their understanding of living in poverty (my mother much more so) because they were able to increase their wealth.

Sometimes I wonder if Augustin purposely turns down job promotions or offers, just so he can maintain his street cred and scorn the bourgeoisie from his small apartment.

Also if you have an ALDI near your home, you are blessed because that store is VERY cheap.

Aldi is the new walmart. I heard some elderly people on the bus say so. And if there's anyone who knows about penny pinching, it's elderly people.

LOL, Aldi has been around longer that walmart, at least in my area. Now oldest will 32 in month, and I shopped aldi when he was a toddler, way before there was Walmart, or even heard of one.

In my world we had generic grocery stores with "food" in the title (Food Lion, Foodland, etc.), and Kmarts and GeeBees and Janesways and such. This sad state of affairs continued through the 80s and early 90s. Then Walmart came in the mid-90s and conquered all the others and provided a better option--the only option needed. This Aldi thing is a new thing for us, an unwanted foreigner who can barely speak our language, an illegal alien who should be happy that we don't beat them with their own shoes, and they are lucky to even be allowed land to sell their haphazardly acquired merchandise.

Or... um... well that's how I remember things and see them. Don't confuse me with the truth.

Sing it, Akimori! My parents came to the US in the 80s, my father uneducated and both of them dirt poor. They are now quite comfortable and my mother is very successful in her field.

My family was considered poor for the first few years of my life, before their careers took off. I refuse to think less of their achievements or their understanding of living in poverty (my mother much more so) because they were able to increase their wealth.

Sometimes I wonder if Augustin purposely turns down job promotions or offers, just so he can maintain his street cred and scorn the bourgeoisie from his small apartment.

We Asians understand the value of hard work.

And others dont?

I was not being serious. I wouldn't have said anything if I thought my self-deprecation wasn't obvious -- apologies!

The sad part is, I am drinking bubble tea as I type this.

LOL you Japanese wannabe. (I say that with love.)

For the record, my father was from Eastern Europe from one of the many families that suffered under Communism. And no, they weren't rich before. He is now one of those people who think everyone who supports a government program is a socialist. However, after hearing about his past, I can't blame him (although we argue about the issue all the time).

« Last Edit: October 07, 2011, 10:51:13 AM by IsmiLiora »

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She's touring the facility/and picking up slack.--"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Ecclesiastes 1:18--I once believed in causes too, I had my pointless point of view --Life went on no matter who was wrong or right